Between land grabbing and exclusionary incorporation

land leasing and renewable energy in Northeast Brazil

Abstract

This article analyzes the recent expansion of renewable energy in Northeast Brazil through the lens of territorial appropriation dynamics associated with land grabbing and green grabbing processes. It argues that the implementation of wind and solar energy projects in the region has taken place through land lease agreements that transfer control over large areas to companies, while simultaneously producing a highly unequal distribution of the economic benefits generated. Based on a literature review and empirical evidence, the article demonstrates that these contracts operate as central mechanisms of territorial reconfiguration, generating socio-environmental conflicts, restrictions on land use, and processes of dispossession. However, the analysis reveals that the observed reality cannot be reduced to a simple opposition between resistance and acceptance. On the contrary, there is a diversity of positions among landowners and affected communities, including rejection, attempts at renegotiation, and adherence to contracts. To interpret these dynamics, the article mobilizes the concept of adverse incorporation, which helps to explain how these actors are inserted into global energy production circuits under conditions marked by power asymmetries and limited bargaining capacity. It is argued that these processes involve forms of subordinated incorporation, in which inclusion occurs on deeply unequal terms. The article contributes to the debate by demonstrating that the energy transition, far from being inherently just, may reproduce and deepen territorial and social inequalities.